The month of August is celebrated across the country as the Buwan ng Wika or Month of the National Language. Students in elementary and high schools are obliged to speak Filipino, a Tagalog-based national language, in support of the strengthening the national language amidst the challenge posed by globalization. Often, theatrical shows of Filipino heroism are also conducted in schools, with focus on the life of Manuel L. Quezon, the Father of the National Language. The month of August is indeed a festive month to celebrate the national language and inculcate nationalism through the use of the national language.
But what exactly is to be ‘nationalist‘ with the use of the national language?
I speak four languages. I am learning my fifth language as well. My mother tongue is the Iloko language, which is predominantly used in Northern Luzon and some parts of Mindanao. This language is the most beautiful language to me as I grew up with using it. Filipino, the national language, and English are the next languages I learned. These language ware taught to me during elementary school days. The last one, Spanish, was acquired when I was in college because my degree necessitates the use of this language. Perhaps, the next language I’ll acquire is Bisaya, which is one of the most dominant languages in the country.
Now, going back back to the question, does the use of the national language make you nationalist? 
Speaking the national language for the sake of being called a nationalist is a shallow or superficial manifestation of one’spatriotism. Knowing when and where to speak the national language is another story. If, for example, you are abroad and you meet fellow Filipinos, using Filipino as lingua franca is a manifestation that you affiliate yourself with your being a Filipino, even if you can speak another lingua france like English. This is also true when, for example, you are inside the country and meet someone whose mother tongue is different from yours and both of you speak Filipino to understand each other and not English, then it is a manifestation that you care for your national language.
I noticed some display of ‘unnationalist‘ tendencies in using the national language way back in college when my department obliged us to use Filipino. This is so because of the strong grip of a certain disciplinal perspective focusing on the use of one’s own language in writing or re-writing history. I opposed it. I don’t believe that using only Filipino in interpreting, deconstructing and writing history is what we need. If that is the case then, history will be just one story for a certain group of Filipinos which are the Tagalogs whose language became the basis of the national lingua franca. Whether we like it or not, the Philippines is culturally and geographically disunited, leading to the creation of many languages across the archipelago. With myriad of tongues, different versions of history should be written in different languages if we want a holistic approach in redefining history in terms of a language.
Now that we are in the midst of celebrating the month of the National Language, we should ask ourselves why we are doing it. Are we doing it because it is mandated by the government? Or we are just doing it to perpetrate the norm which is believing that the Tagalog-based, Manila-centric language should be rightfully called the National Language, and not Bisaya which is the most widely spoken language during and even after the selection of a national language. But before I forget to mention, the Tagalog-based national language has become the most widely spoken language today in the country as it already surpassed Bisaya in terms of speakers due to massive inculcation of it in education curriculum and mass media.While having a national language is crucial in nation-building, using it to conquer and diminish other languages in the country is destructive.
Tags: Buwan ng Wika, Filipino as National Language, Filipino Nationalism, Ilokano, National Language Month, Tagalog
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